nancy viva davis halifax

her last breath teeters
&
isdispersed

coyote delicates at acute angles
limbs slack, skin lax
over bone
weight lightened
as vehicles splinter
fur to pelt

where i live WVC mortality is high

these rural arterials feed
distant registries -
man's hands write at the edge of

marsh where she rendered
with incarnadine throat
leaves language

* * *

INEXACT CHILD

Listen to the audio version.

i listen .		i am hear
	waiting with clean ears
unscented thoughts		[soft snuffle]
like i believe it is possible	for us to forge	[sighs]
	an incalculable something
your vest reads solidarity
i listen for the sibilant of it
practice it in your presence /s/  /z/  /∫ /  /t∫ /	hold
break it down	breath EXPLODES	for my tongue
	:a a f
happy at distant sounds		eerrrrrrrr—offfffff rrrrrreerrrrrrrrffff
i read the nature poets to you
my voice licking your ears
		[scenting]
all of this with no record:
how your mouth chews
	the exquisite form of a	branch
the breath that wings
		your wooly slippers

 

nancy viva davis halifax is a queer, crip poet and scholar, born on the North shore of New Brunswick on Mi'gma'gi terriory. she lives as a guest on stolen lands. she has published one collection of poetry (2015, McGill Queens University Press, Hugh MacLennan Poetry Series) and is writing her second. she teaches in the Critical Disability Studies graduate program at York University, Toronto, Ontario